A dear friend recently asked me to do the honor of being a judge at the Frebby Awards. Funny name?Â Yes.Â Valuable?Â Also yes.Â So, just what are the Frebby Awards?Â The Frebbies are the product of Paprika Studios, and are designed to recognize the â€œBest ofâ€ the web in Fresno, CA.Â Broken down into six main categories (Inspiration, Commerce, Communication, Action, Connection, Informational) and the just-for-fun category Frebby Favorite, nominees will be judged on creativity, effectiveness, expertise and innovation.

Know an individual or business in Fresno deserving of an inaugural Frebby Award?Â Nominate them here.Â The deadline to enter is this Wednesday, September 15.

Portnoy Media Group uses the influence of social networks to expand your organization's voice and tell your story. We connect people with your mission and enable your brand to be shared, discovered, and connected. Work with us as we empower your organization to dramatically extend your online presence and increase donations.

Another stop on the road to the Academy awards for Gregg Helvey and crew as this mornings nominations came out. I was absolutely elated that this fine, fine film is now considered one of the best from the last year! If you get a chance to see it, please do. I’m not new to the crux of the entertainment/art world working with the non profits that help those who have been caught in human trafficking and bring awareness to the masses. Hands down, KAVI is the best thing I’ve seen on trafficking since Taken. Where KAVI is more accessible is that it’s the story of a boy caught in a terrible scenario and it’s much more easy to identify with. (I’m still waiting on the Kung-fu lessons to kick in though!)

The quote below is not long after I’d seen the film and it stopped me dead in my tracks.

After watching the film, (It won the audience award at the IFFLA) myself and the Media Group partners (specifically Outthink Group) were quick to snap into work to make sure that as many people as possible could hear about this movie. Using social media to augment the film impact and using the gorgeous design of Blue Ember to enhance the web presence of www.kavithemovie.com

I can’t even begin to imagine this 3 year journey has felt like for Director Gregg Helvey – he’s got just 33 days left until the next chapter is done. From the bottom of my heart I hope that this film wins and becomes a lightning rod for people to hear more about trafficking and it prompts action in communities across the country.

Again big congratulations to Gregg Helvey, Margaux Helvey and John Harrison – Great Work!

The latest bit of info has been tabulated and there’s a good chance by the time you read this it’ll already be out of date. Spend 4:46 and see the power of leveraging social networks. The video moves quick so make sure you’re ready to pause it.

Social media won’t work on it’s own but it has an incredible power of augmenting your message.

The full event and main sessions are being processed for the web and will be posting as part of their Vimeo profile. Big THANKS to Daniel “DK” & Sadie Kim (the crown she made me was a big hit, plus they may have the cutest kid ever!), Dawn Carter, and Sam Song for their work behind the scenes to pull it all together. Also MASSIVE thanks to Charles Lee for his oversight to the entire project and he banks in relationship capital in ways we haven’t dreamed of yet.

As for the workshop, I was fortunate to be the facilitator of a session called “Augmenting Your Story with Video” – here’s what we talked about:

There was a great mix of people who were interested in film, organizations that were testing the waters with film/video and then there was the guys from Chronicle Project. Everyone who was in the room already understood that film/video was essential to their voice being heard in today’s world. Fortunately for me there were a truck load of videos shown at the main session including Deidox | Lindsay and charity:water’s latest campaign for September Birthday’s.

The best part was that we talked about this short at great length. It had launched just a few days before ICDC and I was so impressed by it that I found out who made it (Upstream Visual from Austin, TX) and sent them an email congratulating them on such great work. It captured a great balance of story (info), great visuals (shots) and left me wanting to take action (connection).

Other thoughts/issues/solutions that came out of the session:

Be able to tell me your goal/what you do in a sentence. (Stop Modern Day Slavery, Give Clean Water to the World) If you can’t tell someone don’t expect your promo to fix that.

Everyone has a friend who has a camera – that doesn’t make them storytellers. You get what you pay for.

Do research on the company you’re hiring – check their previous projects. The work that they’ve done is likely to be the work that they’d continue to do. Make sure you like the look and the feel of it.

Animation = crazy cash. It’s gorgeous but it’s time intensive.

HD is a must

What have you seen lately that you’ve liked? What do you think of charity:water’s latest campaign video?